The Landscape

Glastonbury is held by some to be a ‘thin place’ where the numinous world is closer than the norm. Once, it was a peninsula island surrounded by an inland sea, encouraging the popular belief that it was at one time the ancient Isle of Avalon, followed by wetland marshes until the moors were drained for agriculture.

Despite the changing landscape, Glastonbury has held a fascination for humankind over centuries. In earlier times, perhaps this could be experienced in the hills, the streams, the woods and the marshes full of fish and fowl; a place burgeoning with earthly and spiritual life. The mists that gathered about the place lent an otherworldly quality to the ambiance and in the centre of all this arose the strange conical hill of the Glastonbury.

Today, urban development might have impacted on the landscape, but the atmosphere remains. The mound rises out of the horizon from a distance, still surrounded by mist. Meadows and woodlands remain, timelessly, and an awareness of the closeness and reality of nature can still be felt when walking in places such as Glastonbury Tor, Chalice Well, Bride’s Mound and the grounds of the ruined Glastonbury Abbey.

In the wider countryside, lies what is claimed to be the Glastonbury Zodiac - a pattern of natural features which appear to reflect on earth the pattern of the passing constellations in the sky. This may not possess an objective reality within the landscape; it nonetheless remains a powerful tool for spiritual experience and transformation. " Whilst the monument itself has very little basis in established geology or archaeology, it nevertheless produces profound spiritual effects in those who engage with the journey that it offers.”[1].

Below is a list of the pages that have been set up on this part of the site relevant to the landscape of Glastonbury. The links that are coloured blue have a page (complete with content) associated with them, while the links that do not yet have a page connected with them are coloured red.
Where there is no content, or links, you are invited to contribute copy for this site.
Please read Contributing to find out more.